The vintage of raw honey will vary year to year due to the natural process of pollen collection by the magnificent bee. Like a fine wine, the same label can change year to year due to the ecology of the grapes. Was it a drier year? Wetter? Nutrients replaced in soil? Long winter? Or short? Whatever happens over the life of the grape, you still end up with a grape, made into wine.
Raw honey reacts the same way. What plants did the bee collect from? Did one species thrive over another one in any given year? Was there less water? Less flowers? More? The factors in natural consistently create variables. In the case of Aseda Wild Honey, the pollen collected to create this unique honey is from the calabash fruit, shay tree, and other plants found in the ancient forest. The variables from year to year will be determined by nature. One year, shay tree blossoms may be more prevalent, tempting the bees to collect more from that source. Other years, the calabash fruit may take front stage. There may be years that an explosion of another native flower will be the abundance, which will slightly change the look and taste of Aseda honey.
Part of what makes raw honey amazing, is that it is straight from the hive. An essence of mother earth…as she is…at any given year. Nature is consistent, despite the human realization of these variables. The plants in the region will keep growing in a nature ebb and flow of abundance and lack. The bees will continue to collect from the flowers and create this precious resource. The consistency of honey will always be the same. Since the first human hand found itself digging into a comb of honey, this has been a constant. Raw honey will always be alive with the enzymes and the characteristics it possesses. It will be consistent in the way it reacts to heat and cold. If left in its natural state, it will crystallize, every time.
True Raw honey is very consistent, including the promise of nature’s variables. Thus, we have the beauty of the vintage of honey. The 2009 vintage of Aseda Wild Honey produced a dark, bold, rich, somewhat astringent taste. The 2011 vintage of Aseda Wild Honey produced a slightly lighter, still bold, still rich, less astringent, and more palatable taste. The 2013 vintage seemed a tad bit sweeter. 2014 hinted to the perfect balance thus far. The consistencies are those of nature. Every vintage contains the pollens of the calabash fruit and the shay tree. The ratios are just different.
When raw honey crystallizes, it appears to be lighter than the liquid honey in the jar. Aseda 2009 vintage was incredible dark, yet when it crystallized; it appeared to be much lighter. Aseda 2011 vintage is slightly lighter in color, and yet, when it crystallizes, it is lighter than itself. When you compare a crystallized 2011 vintage to a liquefied 2009 vintage, it looks as if there is no consistency. Yet the honey is being consistent with the behavior honey has possessed since ancient times.
That is part of what makes raw honey special. It follows the rules of the natural world, unlike the “honey” the modern world is use to. Which is heated, killed, pollen removed, some cases not even real honey…More of a liquid sugar. Bees are feed sugar water… That consistency is man made, unnatural. To see what the hand of man has done to honey, please google “fake” honey, or honey processing.
The first stages of the organic movement experienced the same displacement. People didn’t understand why organic oranges were not the bright orange color they were used to seeing. They didn’t know that commercial oranges are dyed orange to look more appealing. They didn’t understand why organic produce didn’t consistently look perfect, be the same size, not have any blemishes or why it wasn’t super shiny, like what they were accustomed to seeing in the market. It was not common knowledge that commercial produce was sprayed with chemicals, pumped with miracle grow and covered with wax to look appealing. Now, people know and understand that food doesn’t really look that way. To know raw honey, or shall we say real honey, is to know how honey is produced. Honey is not the man fed bee excrement that is filled into a plastic bear labeled as “honey food”. It is the knowledge of nature, bees, health, vintage, wild, raw, pristine…….Honey. The movement back to real food, like a primal need calling from our ancient world has already emerged and is growing at an incredible rate.
The path to pollen is part of the calling. Enjoy the honey Aseda offers. Honey straight from the hive.